Wednesday, July 18, 2012

A Comedy of Terrors [and giggles]

also available in pdf (non-DRM) and
other formats at MuseItUp Publishing

In times of stress, either in wartime,
or in economic hard times that create insecurity, we lose that sense of
safety we often had as children, and when that happens, one of the
first things to go is our sense of humor. We become deadly serious,
and frivolity of any sort seems to be out of place. Ironically, it
is in exactly those times of stress when we need to get a good laugh,
get a bit silly, tip everything upside down and look at ourselves
and the world around us from a new, and definitely more capricious
angle.

“A Comedy of Terrors” is that rare
breed, a fantasy designed to make you laugh. Many fantasies revolve
around a hero, but Segorian Anderson is hardly the run-of-the-mill
fairy tale hero. In fact, he's the town idiot, with a wide streak of
cluelessness that is bound to draw out a few chuckles from even the
most jaded reader. This tale has some of the old standards: there's
a dragon, a Queen, elves, pixies, trolls, and even dwarfs, but
they're all just a bit twisted from the ones in the old stories –
oddly enough, that actually makes them more memorable (you'll have to
guess which ones have poisoned arrows and love garlic).

But there are new concepts as well.
Anyone who's ever worked in a corporate environment will immediately
recognize the job of being the “Queen's Idiot.” Making money in
the middle is also a topic that comes up as we discover business
acumen in Smith's fantasy world, with special attention to even demons playing
by the rules (however twisted) . Potential culprits are everywhere,
all of them characters of one kind or another. And there are vivid
explanations of why it is unwise to allow Dragons to drink “apple
juice.” Dragons are named in inventive ways, and there are
unexpected story turns and side roads everywhere (where nobody's more
surprised than the Idiot, in spite of the fact that we are all pretty
sure we know what's about to go down), and more than a few
side-punches at the way politics and human nature work in every age
and country.

There is also, most obviously, fun and
a sense of silly word play and goofiness that brings a lightness of
tone, and a grin or two, including some kitchy asides that would have
made the Monty Python folks realize they had a kindred spirit in the
writing genre.

It's written with Victorian
sensibilities (topics that would seem off-color if mentioned
outright, are hinted at rather than stated, and there are formal protocols to be followed when talking to a Queen), including a more than a
few references to Victoria herself, so it would be fine for teen, or
even younger readers (some may not “get it” in the case of some
things left unspoken or unexplained that an adult would easily catch,
though certainly the teens would)
the story plot, which is a bit of a who-done-it, might be a bit
complicated to hold the interest of the younger readers.

I found it a hoot, and think we should
see more in this genre. Keeping a sense of humor and that ability to
laugh at ourselves is critical in this all-too-serious world. I'd
love to see more of it not only in fantasy but in sci-fi as well.
Mark Twain (who lived during the upheavals of the Civil War and its
aftermath) is reported to have said “The human race has only one
really effective weapon and that is laughter,” and I heartily
agree.

Also, I'd advise readers to check out
this publisher, Muse It Up Publishing, who's actively seeking to get
more work available without DRM (the software that keeps you from
sharing books with others), making more books available at
significantly less cost to the reader. They sometimes have free
downloads and book giveaways, and it's a good place to look for the
authors that may be up-and-coming in the future. You can also get
specific formats (Kindle and Nook) as well as non-DRM (pdf and
smashwords) formats.

5 comments:

My thanks indeed for the review - and I'm glad 'A Comedy of Terrors' made you smile :-).I'd also like to express my appreciation for the mention of MuseitUp. Before I say anything else, I'd like to stress that what comes next is my own view and not in any way a 'MuseitUp' view. The Muse may agree with it, or they may not - but I wouldn't want anyone to think I was speaking 'for' them :-).From my experience with Muse, one of their driving principles is reader-friendliness. Yes, they want to sell. Yes, they want to make profit, both for themselves and their authors. But (and it's part of that principle) what they really want is for readers to come back to them, to feel comfortable.Their approach to DRM is part of this. Do they want someone who bought a Muse book to go round giving copies to all their friends and neighbours? Absolutely not. Do they, with the active cooperation with and assitance from, pursue such activities and stop them as best they may? Absolutely.But they don't apply DRM. Not just because it's both easy to circumvent and technically a nuisance to the publisgher - but because it's also a nuisance to the reader.If you've purchased a Muse book (at least if you purchase it from their store), they give you a number of file formats. If you want to keep a copy on your PC, one on your cell and one on your e-reader - they're fine with that. Because, above all, they don't just want you to buy from them - they want you to read from them. To read their authors - and to come back for more :-).I won't try to quote Eric Flint at Baen Books in depth - you can take a look here if you haven't seen it:

http://baen.com/library/intro.asp

But I-as-me (again, that's not I-as-Muse :-P) agree with every word. And that's one of the reasons I like the Muse as a house :-)).

Graeme SmithAuthor: A Comedy of TerrorsComing July 2013: Road like a River (MuseitUp PublishingComing soon: 'Jack Shadow' (Books We Love)

Gabriella, thank you so much for your amazing review of Graeme's book. We fell in love with it and him from his very first introduction letter to us. He was able to showcase his humorous style within his initial query. And happy to say we were not disappointed with his manuscript.

Graeme, I can't thank you enough for the kind words. And your comments above about MuseItUp Publishing wanting readers to discover our prolific authors, catering our customer service to please 99.9% of our buyers, but more importantly, making sure our authors feel at home, was spot on.

I've always said that it takes a unit to make a business work, and that's what our authors and staff have done over and over again...pulled together to support and promote each other.

And this was directed to Graeme-as-you and not Graeme-as-Muse. LOL! See...you are a very contagious humorous man.

Well, I clicked back on this link three times and it said the page did not exist, so I figured the extremely sensible words of Mr. Graeme Cracker, Lea (?), and Cheryl did not exist, and I had hallucinated them. Anyway, this is a highly sensitive, perceptive, and appreciative review. MuseItUp is indeed a great publisher, very reader AND author-friendly, but I believe we are not proponents of DRM. A writer should be paid for his or her work rather than have it passed around like cheap goods. Sharing is such a common practice these days, not only for books but for so many things you can think of.

SuperTrilogy!

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